A lot of people on minimum wage are students and minors living with their parents, who don't have their own apartment leases. Many minimum wage workers are alre

A lot of people on minimum wage are students and minors living with their parents, who don't have their own apartment leases. Many minimum wage workers are already in subsidized or rent-controlled housing. Plus, most of the wage increases are going to be phased in, because everyone knows that raising the minimum wage to $15 all at once would be too great a change. It's also worth pointing out that only about 4-5% of the workforce earns the minimum wage nationwide. So I don't think the relationship between minimum wage increases and rent increases is very easy to quantify. Furthermore, most of the predictions about negative consequences of minimum wage increases have failed to materialize. The explanation for this is one of the things that economists have no consensus on, and their disagreement has actually increased over time. In any case, I find it very unlikely that a minimum-wage earner could afford to buy a house, even at the $15 level.